


I May Fall

by Mijali



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Serious Injuries, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 23:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15617166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mijali/pseuds/Mijali
Summary: Weiss and Ruby are separated from their team for a mission that should have gone far smoother than it did. When Ruby gets injured, it's up to Weiss to keep her safe.





	I May Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of a piece of art by azure-zer0 that I'll link here because it's amazing: https://goo.gl/Ezivv4

 

It was supposed to be a simple mission.    
  
Weiss sighed to herself, coughing a bit with the action- it sounded raspy and dry, and her field training told her she may have punctured a lung when her ribs broke- everyone always says that, though. ‘It was supposed to be simple’.    
  
Ruby shifted on her back, her arms tightening around her neck as she whimpered and Weiss sped up, despite her body’s protests- Ruby was hurt, and Weiss couldn’t get the image of what happened out of her head, a movie on repeat even as she stumbled over the uneven ground of the forest, made all the more treacherous by the nearly moonless night. 

Her body begged for her to take a break, to rest and her lung, the only one she could feel expand, was burning and she almost listened, almost stopped, but Ruby spoke, the first words she had heard from the girl in nearly an hour,    
  
“Weiss-” 

 

xXx

  
  
“Weiss! Watch your left!” 

They had been tasked to clear a sector of the forest which had been suffering from a low level grimm invasion. In order to effectively cover the area, it had been advised to split into pairs, the mission being suitable for even first years. This left the team split between many kilometers, in an area with almost no scroll signal, a fact that had made Weiss a little antsy even when they had only been dealing with smaller species of grimm.    
  
This one, however.    
  
This grimm, was the biggest Ursa they had ever seen, and it had just come barreling past where Ruby had been holding the line and swiped in Weiss’ direction- she was faster though, and easily evaded the attack, making some platforms to create distance.    
  
They had already proven that Weiss’ rapier was doing very little damage to the beast and that she was better served setting Ruby up to make the big hits with her heavier weapon, while slowing it down with strategic elemental attacks. 

“Get ready, I’ll line you up, you take the kill!”    


“Got it!” 

A string of intricate white glyphs ran around from where Ruby was standing to the back of the Ursa and Ruby wasted no time following their path, her increased speed granting her even more momentum than her semblance on its own could provide and, with a tremendous amount of force, she slashed at the grimm a cocky smirk on her face as it stumbled and fell.    
  
“Nice, Weiss!”    
  
“Ruby!”    
  
She hadn’t taken it down, and from how she ended her attack, her back was to it.    
  
Ruby heard it, and Weiss could see her expression change from confident to scared but it was fast, so much faster than it should be as injured and big as it was, and before either girl could react it slashed her across the back, its claws coming back a red so dark Weiss could have sworn it was black.    
  
She gasped, so softly that if Weiss hadn’t seen her open her mouth she might not had heard it.    
  
She went pale, even for her- whiter than Winter, whiter than her own glyphs, and Weiss watched her knees buckle.    
  
“Ruby!”    
  
The grimm attacked again, even as Weiss was darting forward, and Ruby went flying, landing near where Weiss had just vacated, which worked out well enough, because it meant that Weiss was now between her and the Ursa.    
  
“Ruby! Say something!”    
  
She got no response, and as much as she needed to check on her she knew that doing so would be suicide for herself and certain death for Ruby. 

The Ursa was nearly down. It was leaking black, viscous and rancid like decay, like the blood that would have been in it if it were alive had spoilt and rotted in its veins.    
  
“Don’t worry, Ruby! I’ve- I’ve got it! Don’t worry!”    
  
She didn’t know who she was talking to- she was most certainly unconscious. She was wasting her focus on talking to her, and she knew it, but she was getting panicked and the Ursa clawed at the earth, once, twice, before charging forward and suddenly the only thing on her mind was keeping it away from Ruby.    
  


She didn’t evade, not drastically, not like she normally did with flips and acrobatics.    
  
She kept her movements contained, small, stayed close to the Ursa, as close as she could manage, trying to copy Yang’s motions and style as much as she could. She needed the monster’s focus to stay solely on her, and that meant staying in front of it for as long as she could. 

She wasn’t built for this, though, for this style of fighting- where Yang could block it’s attack with a single hand and follow up for a punch with the other, it took both hands for Weiss to keep her sword up when struck.    
  
It took everything she had to fight it one on one like this, and every hit drained her aura, but slowly she was leading it away, further into the forest, further from Ruby.    
  
She was panting hard now, slowing down, but if she could just get it a little further, just a few more meters, she could start to go back to evasion and glyphs that, at this distance, took too long to set up to be viable. 

Just a little further, just a little more.    
  


She was now walking backwards, keeping one eye on Ruby to make sure no more grimm appeared to take advantage of her being unguarded, her steps short and stilted as she navigated the roots and hollows of the forest floor.   
  
The grimm swiped, trying to hit her across the stomach, but she jumped, pushing off it’s arm and jumping back, the distance now tripled between them, and she sighed in relief at the breathing room, raising Myrtenaster straight up, it’s dial clicking into place with a comforting sound.   
  
A glyph appeared at her feet, and she steeled her gaze on the giant before her, it’s shuddering form clearly on its last legs. Weiss’s aura wasn’t holding out much better- she had to make this count.

She shot forward, her sword pointed straight at where it’s heart would be if it had one. 

The Ursa swung at the same time, a bellowing roar sounding as she made contact, her sword stuck through it’s chest as she sailed from the impact, her body crashing through a tree before being stopped at the one behind it, the air leaving her lungs in a single, sudden breath as she heard her ribs crack with a sickening series of snaps. 

She slid to the ground, eyes refusing to focus correctly as she struggled to catch her breath- something was wrong, she couldn’t take in air, she was suffocating, she was-    
  
Her breathing steadied, slowly, painfully, and she realized dimly that she only had the wind knocked out of her, and she rose to her feet, nearly vomiting from the pain in her side, then again from the pain taking a breath caused.    
  
In and out. Slow. A breath at a time.    
  
Huntress’s are taught to control their pain, to manage it, to move past it, and Weiss was no exception.    


She took a step, then another, nearly crying out when she had to bend to retrieve Myrtenaster from where it fell when the Ursa had finally dissolved into fog, spent at last. 

“Ruby.”    
  
She sprinted, ignoring the pain, and skidded to a stop next to the girl, crouching as best she could to check her vitals- breathing, a pulse that was steady if not weak.  
  
“Ruby, wake up, please.”    
  
She didn’t wake, and Weiss ran her fingers down her spine, checking the wound, four deep gouges that ran the width of her middle back, pale white bone peaking between the blood and muscle and sinew.   
  
If she moved her, she could make the damage worse, but if she didn’t, she would die here. There was no service where they were, and Weiss couldn’t leave her, not prone like this, not when they had failed to clear the sector they were in.    
  
She made a decision, the hardest she would ever make, and, using the last of her aura built a series of glyphs to help raise the girl with the least motion possible onto her back. 

“It’s going to be okay, Ruby. It’s going to be okay.”    
  


xXx

 

“Weiss-”    
  
“Ruby!”    
  
“Weiss, I’m scared-”    
  
“It’s okay, Ruby, it’s okay, I-”   
  
“I-...I can’t feel my legs, Weiss, oh god, I can’t-”    
  
Weiss’ blood ran cold, like ice in her veins, and she felt her stomach sink, a sour, bitter taste mixing with the blood that coated her tongue from coughing,    
  
“J-just hang in there, Ruby! We’re...We’re going to find the others any moment now!”    
  
Ruby didn’t respond, she felt limp against her back and Weiss panicked again, or panicked more, or continued to panic- she couldn’t remember, in this moment, if she had ever stopped.    
  
“Yang would probably have my head, right? That’s- that’s why I’m not going to let anything happen to you! Ruby!”    
  
She heard her let out a shuddering breath- weak, so, so weak.    
  
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you!”    
  
  



End file.
